Paperback or ebooks?

Vertigo said:
It must be the most schizophrenic language in the world!
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Not so sure. I've been studying Spanish for 6 months now and I'm up to here with male and female everything, where some adverbs are placed before the verb and some are not; where questions look just like statements. And on and on the intricate language goes.
 
Ah but English doesn't know whether it's based on Latin, Saxon, Norse or French and I'm sure there's others buried in there as well.
 
Parson said:
Not so sure. I've been studying Spanish for 6 months now and I'm up to here with male and female everything, where some adverbs are placed before the verb and some are not; where questions look just like statements. And on and on the intricate language goes.
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But adjectives always come after - like most of the world - English is the odd one there!

;)
 
Galactic Bus Driver said:
I've only ever heard that it's the hardest language to learn, as a second language.
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Isn't that what "learning a language" means? When you are born into a language you tune in and are shaped by the language that you hear. Your mother tongue is never difficult by the time you understand that there are more languages.
 
Ian Fortytwo said:
It has to be paperbacks or hardbacks, there is nothing like going into a bookshop and browsing for a new or favourite book. I especially love second hand bookshops, a special smell permeates from them. I have discovered some classics in these places. So many memories of entering second hand bookshops.
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Found this post looking for a "bookshops" thread. I share your love of second hand bookshops, the smell! A couple of my favourites were (both now gone) "Fantasy Centre" in Holloway Road, North London, and one which was off Freeman Street in Grimsby (UK). I wonder if either of the 2 geezers from "Fantasy Centre" are on Chrons?
 
FWIW, the used bookshops with the best SFF sections I've ever found are City Lights in London, Ontario and the Curious Bookshop in East Lansing, Michigan. A behemoth like the Strand doesn't even come close, no matter how much I love it. And, yes, I try to go to used bookshops in every place I visit. Of the places I've been, I'd say probably Urbana-Champaign, IL, and Atlanta are the best for quality + quantity of used bookshops. My favorite used bookshop I've ever visited may be Jackson Street Booksellers in Omaha. Bookman Bookwoman in Nashville is also pretty great.
 
eBooks for fiction, paper for non-fiction. For the reasons previously mentioned, it's easier to browse and dart back and forth in paper.

Most ereaders today have a front light so you can read in any lighting. I love this for reading in bed. Being able to read in complete darkness is what helped me to read more. Get cosy under the sheets and read in perfect comfort.

Night mode is nice too, inverting the colours makes it even easier to read at night without eye strain or keeping somebody else awake.

I notice that I didn't notice anyone mentioning the dictionary functions. I don't need them often but it's nice to be able to look up a word instantly without having to interrupt your experience. I'd imagine this would be amazing if reading in a non native language as well. I know someone with a kindle (I'm a kobo man myself) who loves this feature and the built in vocabulary builder list that adds looked up words for future study.

Formatting can be hit and miss, but as with sideloading using Calibre, it takes just a little effort to figure out exactly how you want it and after that every book you read is perfect for you. There would be no need to buy large print books or use the distorting magnifying lenses, or even wear your glasses anymore.

-

As a side note for writers specifically, it's super easy to do two things.

Firstly, I find it absurdly helpful to have a change of format when editing. Compiling an .epub and seeing your words on an ereader is totally different than staring at them on a computer screen. This change is often enough that I pick up on little things I had previously missed, it gives me fresh eyes. You can also easily send these files to beta readers who can load them on their own readers (or even phones / tablets) and read them with minimum fuss.

Secondly, self publishing isn't going away, and ereaders make that far more practical. Blah blah, stuff I know nothing about, being unpublished :)
 
.matthew. said:
eBooks for fiction, paper for non-fiction. For the reasons previously mentioned, it's easier to browse and dart back and forth in paper.
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Same for me. Plus I buy paper books that have earned their place on my bookshelves.
I have currently 800 books on my e-reader. Wherever I go, I only need to pack my e-reader and be assured that, whatever my need or mood, it will be available.
 
Ray Zdybrow said:
Found this post looking for a "bookshops" thread. I share your love of second hand bookshops, the smell! A couple of my favourites were (both now gone) "Fantasy Centre" in Holloway Road, North London, and one which was off Freeman Street in Grimsby (UK). I wonder if either of the 2 geezers from "Fantasy Centre" are on Chrons?
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I lived in north west London for most of my life . The fantasy Center was originally in Harlesden and run by Ted and Dave it moved to the Holloway Road . Ted retired and was replace by Erik . The shop closed on 2009 , both Erick and Dave had an encyclopedic knowledge of all thing Science Fiction . Another good book shop that closed about the same time was Murder One , in the Charing Cross Road . The basement was dedicated to science fiction and for new books was London's largest .
 
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One thing I forgot, if you have a kobo (not a kindle last I checked) the cover art is displayed on sleep which makes it feel more like a book to me.

Aaaand, if you sideload the books on, you can choose whichever cover you want :)
 
I sideload ALL my e-books with the help of Calibre. I don't want Kobo or Kindle (I have both e-readers) to control my e-readers and/or content.
Calibre also allows you to adapt the title and author, so you can apply the same format throughout your collection, which is especially helpful with books that are part of a series.
 
Elckerlyc said:
I sideload ALL my e-books with the help of Calibre. I don't want Kobo or Kindle (I have both e-readers) to control my e-readers and/or content.
Calibre also allows you to adapt the title and author, so you can apply the same format throughout your collection, which is especially helpful with books that are part of a series.
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I use the meta plugin (or whatever it'd called), to add the series acronym before every title as it's loaded on. So (although I hate the series this is just an example) A Song of Ice and Fire [1], would show on my device as ASoIaF - 01 - A Game of Thrones.
 
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